20 mph winds. The CG was moved back to 15.5 cm after comparing with Doug's which is more like 17 cm from the LE . Elevator upper surface flat as per instructions on mine.

Off she flew, needed 11 (eleven) clicks of down, looks like the JePe suggestion of 14.5 cm is correct after all. It's still kind of a mystery why one flies with a CG at 17 cm (Doug's) and the other one (mine) at 14.5 cm from the LE, maybe JePe changed something somewhere, or perhaps they'r just built slightly different... Doug's elevator is level indicating his CG is fine for his setup

Mine pitches up slightly in the turns which I would guess also indicates a slight tailheavy condition.

On the second flight we flew formation (video next week) and the speed's about the same (Doug has spiderfan on 20 CP 1700 cells, I have the JePe fan & hacker B50-18S on 20 CP 1700 cells too). I have a brand new pack so it still needs some exercising.

Anyhow the two were dead even in performance (Doug claims his is faster, but that's like a broken record with him ) and we landed exactly at the same time, his is 89 oz, mine's 83. So the Spiderfan setup is just as efficient as the Hacker B50, if not slightly better!!.

Yes, Herb, those A-4s looked gorgeous ripping up the sky together! Unfortunately, I was flying my Firecat when you and Doug catapulted , it was hard, right eye on Doug, left eye on you, and third eye on my plane!?!? Great build job and color scheme, Herb. We'll get some good video this coming weekend! Mark-

Originally posted by Herb Thanks they are wonderful!! Now all I need is a vinyl cutter...

Herb, get a hold of Jim Hanson, Goat Hill Graphics, He flies with the morning crowd and does any kind of graphics and vinyl cutting you can think of. He's in Costa Mesa and does great work! # is- 949-646-3603, Good luck, Mark-

Do you guys balance the A4 upright or upside down? Mine balances at 16cm upside down and further aft it want to roll into the turns. At 16cm its better but as I said I'd like to try 15cm next time out. There is no pitch change when turning though..

Nice and clean

A4

Herb, that is one sharp looking A4 what kind of paint did you use on it? You really did a nice job with the airbrush. Herb can you please email me so that we can coordinate a time that we can meet to fly. I would appreciate it. Gregg gave you my email.
Thanks Joe

Mark took a short video of the A-4 yesterday, from it I computed the level flight speed, about 181 km/h or about 112+-2 mph . In flight rpm around 30.6 krmps, 1k higher than on previous flights, I think the new battery is getting exercised. Quite fast, faster than my MiG-15 (105 mph level) but slower than my F-16 (122 mph level) ...

Thanks Herb

Herb thanks for the maps that makes it real easy for me to get to the field. I will have my Kyosho F16 ready to fly in the next week or so I am waiting for some old Airtronics servo extensions from Cermark. Then I will airbrush it and it will be ready to fly. I am go to fly it off my new bungee launcher before my Jepe F16 so I get some launch time with a less expensive plane. Plus I have much more painting and detailing to do the the Jepe so it will be a while before its finished. I do hope to have my K&A F86 done as well.
Thanks Joe

Re: Doug sighting

Quote:

Originally posted by XPHAM Well....the mystery seems over....On late friday afternoon I was flying my faithful GWS Zero and looks who pulls up-speak of the devil-no other than the Jet Casanova himself....

So I asked if he was going to fly, but all he kept on ranting about was this new fling , or love whichever way you want to interpret it....

In any case, he assured me, SHE would not get in the way of his flying....

Jepe A-4

Dear Herb,
I just ordered my first jet from Jepe, the A-4 Can you please tell me a few things about this kit; builing, launching, flying and landing wise.
what battery setup would be better as a beginning setup?
Thank you,
Ed

Re: Jepe A-4

Quote:

Originally posted by flyboss Dear Herb,
I just ordered my first jet from Jepe, the A-4 Can you please tell me a few things about this kit; builing, launching, flying and landing wise.
what battery setup would be better as a beginning setup?
Thank you,
Ed

I would go with what JePe recommends. He and his friends have flown successfully several prototypes.

Bungee release

On page 2 of this tread there is a picture and a video of a Jepe A-4 bungee launcher made in PVC pipe I would like a detail of the release system and the bungee set up string to the jet and relase, and the lenght and height of the ramp.
Thank you.

A-4 Cockpit/pilots

Dear Herb,
I'm sorry to bug you with so many questions, but I'm new to this A-4 project. Can you please tell me where to purchase the cockpit and pilot figure. Yours is absolutly stunning.
Thank you for all the advise, hopefully I get mine flying very soon!!
Ed

Re the bungee there are quite a few setups that work well. Including the dolly that JePe sells.

Mine is made out of garden pipe pvc tubing, very simple, cheap, completely adjustable in width, and disassembles to fit in the car ...

The release mechanism I use is made out of aluminum, from Multiplex (see their website). But you can make your own with two pieces of wood and a nail . I use 22 feet or so of 9mm rubber pulled as far as it'll go (for me) .

It does not take very long to build the A-4. Everything pretty much fits perfectly. The parts are already cut out, no endless sanding and fitting. The color photo instructions are first rate, concise and yet informative, no guess as to how tab A could possibly fit into slot B . Luckily not much is left to your own creative imagination .

I did - as discussed above - glass both wings and fins and that took some time, three evenings or so. On the whole maybe two weeks' worth of evenings to get the whole plane setup.

The model was designed and then flown extensively by very experienced people (JePe, Walther, ...). It seems clear that a lot of thought went into considering the flying chracateristics and powertrain layout & ducting. These people know what they are doing and are serious about it . It shows in the final product which is possibly one of the best edf on the market today.

Of course during the construction a lot of time is spent double checking everything, you don't want something to go wrong on the first flight on a 100+ mph missile ...

The instructions are located on the CD. The best way is to print them out, unless you want to run back and forth with glue dripping from your fingers trying to sort out how to glue tab A into slot B ...

JePe generally - as you will see - recommends different types of glues for different joints. CA, epoxy, polyurethane, etc.

I used mostly polyurethane (Probond) to secure the front ducting, intakes, formers and battery holder to the fuse.

I also used GE slicone II as always to secure the fan and cut down on the noise, as well as on the fuse joint - in addition to the four screws. And laminating epoxy for the fiberglassing.

Images

Dear Herb,
Gorgeous A-4, You would want to trade the finnished one for the unbuild one I have plus cash. I'm new at building and a bit nevous about it. I hope you dont mind me asking,
Thanks for all your help!!
ed

Sorry Ed, the ones that fly well I tend to keep for a while ... But you are not the first one to ask ... Even the Reno Racer I almost sold it on the first day I flew it, Doug was just about ready to pry it from my hands after the maiden - glad I did not though !

Dear Herb,
I will proceed building it my self carefully. I hope I can ask some advise as I go. I,ve read the instructions several times and understand most of it except how to seruce (glue or tape) the Fan unit to the intakes and the out put tube? and location of the receiver. Perhaps you have some pictures of the above challenges.
Thank you in advace for all the help.
Ed

Reno Racer

Herb, I also have a Jepe Reno Racer that I am going to paint in Dago Red colors. I have the correct colors and have the chrome spinner like yours. I even had the Dago Red graphics made for the plane. Can you tell me which motor and cells you installed in yours? I am looking forward to building mine I plan to slip it in between jets
Thanks Joe

Re: Thanks

Reno Racer

Well I plan to have my Dago Red done sometime before the manned space station is finished, Herb I will let you know for sure

Seriously I am not able to build right now as I am pretty sick so I dont know when its going to be finished but I hope by the end of summer. Its pretty low in the building que but I do want to get to it.
Joe

Originally posted by flyboss Dear Herb,
I will proceed building it my self carefully. I hope I can ask some advise as I go. I,ve read the instructions several times and understand most of it except how to seruce (glue or tape) the Fan unit to the intakes and the out put tube? and location of the receiver. Perhaps you have some pictures of the above challenges.
Thank you in advace for all the help.
Ed

As I said I glued the fan to the former and intake using GE silicone glue to cut down on the vibration and noise. I have done the same on almostall my other jets including the JePe F-16 in the picture.

The thrust tube in the back is attached with tape as it's very light.

The receiver is on the lhs of the fuse, the esc and power wiring on the rhs.

Images

Giro

Herb,
My intakes dit not come whith the carbon strips. is this some thing I should add?
The hobbico Giro can you tell me more about it in terms of what it does and how does it hook up?
Thank you again for all the tips. I hope you don't mind since I'm new at this

I thought it was more along the lines of you can choose to cut it off of that nicely detailed fuse and make a functional one... if Herbs has one, he's done an awesome job with the hinge as I can't see it on his finished pics...

speed control

Dear Herb,
Two items I noticed: 1) Your speed control is mounted outside the tube vs. Jepe instructions inside the carbon tube.
2) What is your opinion about Ultimate BEC vs. receiver battery pack.
And where can I find the fabric insulating tape for the copper wiring?
Thank you,
Ed

I mount all my speed controls inside the fuselage, so they are easily accessible and I can swap them if the need arises. They don't get dirt and dust all over them. It also keeps the battery leads short. Herder and Schuebeler and many others do the same in their high performance planes, for the very same reasons.

A receiver battery (I use a 720 Mah NiMHd) is by its very nature the ultimate dc regulated voltage supply. UPEC= ultimate plane elimination circuit .

You are an obvious proponent of rx batteries over The Ultimate BEC and that is ok. The UBEC is not intended to replace RX batteries in every application. I don't use them in my hotliner that has a power system drawing 85 amps from the source battery.

However, I feel that your acronym is unfounded and do not think it is funny. To date, we have not had a single customer report an in-flight failure that caused their aircraft to crash. After one full year of shipping UBECs we have thousands of happy customers all over the world. Our failure rate is under 1% of shipments. This is the case because every unit is individualy tested for over 15 minutes well beyond specifications before they are packaged. Even with the testing we still get a few units that fail when the customer first plugs in. (this is the norm. for a dud unit) We have always stood behind the UBEC and replaced them at no charge even when the customer admits that they wired the unit backwards.

Jeff
JMO , I always use a Receiver Pack. In fact I usually use a 6 volt (5 cells) but my planes are Midi sized powered, BEC might be OK in a park flyer,but not for my birds......(have too many $$$$ in them)
Semper Fi joe

UBEC.......Works Great!

I have been using a UBEC in my 16 cell Kabriolin that draws 40+ amps and a hotliner that draws 65+ amps. It's great not to have to deal with remembering the charge condition of a RX pack plus the weight savings. But that's why we have choices.

Unfortunately Doug's super pricy zapped 20-cell CP 1700 pack seems toast after 50 flights or so, he lagged a bit with reduced power compared to mine, and on top of that had to land earlier. Now he's in line too for a brand new 18-cell GP 3300 pack ...

On landing he tore the top wing sheeting again, in spite of having the new ply battery mount that JePe sent him ... It seems for durability one really needs to completely glass the wing ...

Images

Okay so being the newest owner of uncle joes jepe A-4...
I installed e-flite 10-15 retracts a 2.4 rx and plugged in a 7S 3200 pack.
Last weekend I ran it up at the field and near full throttle the intake ducts sucked shut with a huge clap and it scared the hell out of us!LOL We ran it up again to verify/watch it happen and I still jumped! No damage but not flyable, took it home, yanked the fan and ducting out. Wrapped intakes with carbon tow using 30min epoxy, reinstalled everything with clear silicone. Should run much quieter as rumor has it the ducting was always very noisy in this jet. Crossed fingers for tomorrows maiden flight!